Monthly Archives: June 2017

The Big Switch: What You Need to Know About Transitioning to the Cloud

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Even for seasoned IT professionals, a switch to the cloud can seem intimidating. Yet, with more and more businesses adopting, transitioning is becoming increasingly necessary to stay on the cutting edge. With scalability, efficiency, and speed, cloud computing has already made a big impact on data infrastructure and productivity. 90% of companies report using the cloud in some way, according to Comptia’s report on cloud computing trends.

Still, making the transition brings with it an assortment of challenges, particularly in companies that haven’t bothered to update their IT infrastructure for a long time. For any company considering adopting cloud infrastructure, there are a few challenges worth knowing about.

Learning is part of the process

In order to successfully migrate to the cloud, companies don’t just need to adopt new technology, they need to properly educate IT staff on the specifics of cloud maintenance and management. The good news is that using the cloud decreases overhead and requires less maintenance, so after the initial adoption period, fewer resources will be spent on these tasks. While this can limit adoption speed, especially for larger companies with well-established IT infrastructures, it’s a barrier to entry worth working through.

Plan for time, money, and security

Moving data to the cloud is a slow, costly process. There’s no real way around this. When companies choose to make the jump to cloud, they should plan out the execution and research IaaS options before committing to anything. Ensure that your team is equipped well enough to manage whatever level of cloud infrastructure you plan to provide.

Security is another aspect of cloud adoption that many companies don’t consider. Cloud providers are generally not responsible for security—the majority of breaches happen on-site. Because of this, part of planning can involve paying for security in some form, whether through monitoring software or security measures offered by a cloud provider.

Why adopt the cloud?

While I’ve spoken many times on the benefits of using cloud technology in business, any company looking to adopt will need to know how they intend on using it. Simply finding an IaaS is not good enough; businesses need to figure out how the cloud fits into their overall strategy. Many cite total cost of ownership as the primary reason for cloud usage, but in reality, extensive research should be done to determine the platform that is most conducive to a company’s workload and objectives.

Know the costs.

Companies often overestimate the amount that they’ll need to pay for the cloud, moving only a few applications at a time onto cloud platforms. This incremental approach is in many cases not necessary, especially when public cloud offerings can be inexpensive and robust enough to handle business needs. When migrating, consider the services that you’ll be hosting in-house and the extent to which these can save you money in the long term.

Conclusion

Any company thinking of adopting cloud infrastructure should have a lot of questions about how migration can affect their companies. However, if they avoid falling victim to the hype and conduct thorough research both into provider options and their own goals, then they can bolster their IT departments and be prepared for the cloud’s future innovations.

Adapting to Data as a CIO

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The data revolution has put companies in an interesting position—swamped with information, it is now their responsibility to ascertain actionable insights as fast as possible to avoid falling behind. It’s a challenge to keep up—while there are plenty of tools for collecting big data, and plenty to analyze it as well, the sheer variety can overwhelm a CIO not prepared for the influx.

Because of this, data agility is king. Anyone can collect large amounts of data, but it takes a skill to translate this data into something that companies can take advantage of. Cloud platforms and databases such as Hadoop can help this effort in many ways, but it still falls to the CIO to track recent innovations and keep current. This in of itself requires a strong knowledge of data best practices; no company can adopt every new innovation, but picking and choosing the right scalable data infrastructure can ease the burden of adapting as time goes on.

A big part of a CIO’s responsibility to agile data is choosing a cloud platform that’s right for their business. Different individuals and stakeholders may have a diverse array of opinions on which is best. For instance, Google Cloud Platform may be preferred by a company’s data scientists for its machine learning capabilities, whereas the integration capability offered by Azure may be a good choice for developers. In cases like these, where a company will have to serve a variety of cloud users, it may be smart to consider a multicloud infrastructure to accommodate for as many needs as possible. This approach, though potentially more costly, can ensure that companies are able to harness the developments of each of these platforms in the future.

Beyond infrastructure, other tools exist to help a company maximize its data agility. Apache Drill is one such tool that circumvents the need for IT assistance to query data. It’s an SQL query engine that avoids the problems associated with schema creation while being ANSI SQL:2003 compliant. This and other tools like it are the key to gaining data insight as quickly as possible by cutting down on cycle time.

And concerns about data processing have changed over time. Before, hand coding data architecture was more common, and though it may still be serviceable for small, specialized projects, it is the antithesis to data agility in that it is time consuming to develop and always created for a specific platform. A better alternative for the modern business is data integration software, which takes the burden off of the business and supports new innovations and all types of cloud data.

That said, it takes a bit of vetting to choose the right integration software. The ideal software should be scalable, cross-platform, and allow for real-time data processing. It’s called an agile data fabric, and it’s meant to synthesize all types of data a company will need to work with. Platform agnosticism is important for the same reasons why a multicloud infrastructure is valuable; it allows the company to take advantage of new innovations and specific capabilities.

Organizations should also strive to be self-sufficient with their data. A controlled move to properly distributed data can greatly enhance insight. However, this requires a number of different participants within a company, including IT staff and dedicated data analysts, all with their own needs. A savvy CIO can craft an infrastructure that meets everyone’s needs and allows for scaling as innovation continues its mad rush forward.

How to Teach Employees Cloud Security

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Businesses have worked hard in recent years to bring their IT infrastructure in line with cloud best practices, but security is still an ever-present issue. It can be hard to regulate all of the data shared over the cloud, and information is always being updated. It seems, in many ways, like a zero-sum game—but given the amount of sensitive data freely shared over the cloud, it is still valuable to ensure that employees at your company are informed of the ways that they can practice good cloud security.

Training has multiple benefits; not only can it prevent sensitive data from leaking, but instructing employees on the finer points of VPNs and WiFi as well can dispel myths about the technology and ward against future mishaps. If you are a cloud professional, consider collaborating to set up a training program with other relevant IT staff. If your office lacks a reliable source of knowledge and you use an external provider for cloud services, inquire about the viability of a training program and work with them to reach a suitable arrangement.

The first thing to understand about cloud security is that it involves everyone in the office, not just IT staff. Pay special attention to anyone handling sensitive information; they may need extra instruction in this area. It may seem difficult to educate non-IT staff on the intricacies of the cloud, but in reality, there’s a lot that they can do to improve security on an individual level. Teach them how to avoid malware and unauthorized applications, and give them the resources to create strong passwords.

When training, it is of the utmost importance to impart onto employees that action is taken immediately. Companies cannot afford to take a reactive stance when it comes to cybersecurity, as a data breach can cost dearly in capital, time, and reputation. Often, once data is gone, there is no retrieving it. For businesses pursuing training, they should incentivize it and discuss the benefits that it brings. While it may take time out of their normal work schedules, a better understanding of cloud sharing can improve efficiency in the long run.

It is also important, when planning a training program, to ease employees into cloud usage with practical applications. Use a simple site or API to highlight how the cloud can be used to make it more efficient, and how it can safely be used. Keep in mind that employees will have different learning styles, and strive to offer supplemental guides and videos to allow them to fill gaps in their knowledge.

To go along with training, companies should take the time to reevaluate their cloud permissions, and which employees make use of it. Cloud protocol should be integrated into a company’s policies; don’t just make it a suggestion by way of training, but identify areas that can unwittingly be breached from within and work to fix them and mitigate the risk.

It can be difficult to get staff to comply with these changes. After all, for the average employee, much of it will seem sudden and difficult to understand. Understand and listen to your staff’s concerns about learning this new technology and empathize with them; if something in a training program isn’t working, you should consider working with them to fix the problem. Get them to apply what they’ve learned to practical office problems, and demonstrate their knowledge. Many compliance laws will require demonstration that employees have learned the material, so be cognizant about the steps you will need to take to fully comply.

In addition, it will be necessary to update training every year or so. It may sound like drudgery, but with security concerns changing by the day, your staff will need to stay up to date on the best ways to keep data secure. For IT staff, this obligation may be even more extensive, requiring consistent research into recent attacks and best practices for security.

With cloud migration continuing unabated, it is valuable for any company to educate their employees on its proper use. It affects all aspects of business, which could potentially be problematic for individuals not trained in using it in a secure manner. The sooner businesses embrace cloud education for their employees, the sooner they can adopt new changes and continue to leverage the cloud and its myriad of benefits.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Affect Cloud Computing

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Cloud computing is massive frontier in its own right. Online activity has been redefined by the cloud, and it will come as no surprise that both the public and private sectors have eagerly adopted cloud data storage. But, like the fabled Wild West of yore, this technology is still being developed, with unknown changes over every horizon.

One of the ways that cloud computing is projected to grow is through artificial intelligence, another technology that has garnered recent attention. Many companies have posited that a fusion between AI and cloud technology has the capacity to usher in a new age of cloud computing. Recently, Aaron Levie, CEO of Box Inc., spoke about the company’s recent successes and mentioned that artificial intelligence would play a key role in their upcoming developments.

“We think that AI is going to be substantially powerful for the future of work, and we want to make sure we’re embedding intelligent experiences into everything we do and everything we build at Box,” said Levie.

Learning AI perhaps have the greatest potential to shake up the cloud sector. Machine learning has revolutionized the way that AI communicate with humans, respond to commands, and solve problems. This has manifested itself in a way that many already take for granted—voice-activated assistants such as Siri or Cortana. Cloud computer could potentially work in conjunction to help AI make better decisions and have access to more data. As an AI processes information from cloud servers, it can learn based on patterns that it finds and even send new data back into the cloud to help other machines learn as well.

Even beyond communication, other cognitive services such as image analysis can benefit from having a cloud’s worth of data to draw from. These improvements can advance security technologies with facial recognition software, and assist customers in a way that feels more in line with a human operator.

While cloud learning platforms, such as Google Cloud Machine Learning, provide the first steps towards the synergy of AI and cloud, but lack the deep learning frameworks that may be necessary for future developments. The next generation cloud computing model may be the AI First Cloud, as it is dubbed by CIO. Here, deep learning applications can be better implemented and run on a worldwide AI framework. Additionally, operational management tools could be revamped to allow for better control over the AI programs involved in infrastructure.

Ironically, future work with AI will require a lot of human input. While AI can process massive amounts of data through the cloud, it still makes mistakes, requiring data technicians to note errors and allow them to improve in the future. For example, IBM Watson, a popular AI cloud service intended to fight cybercrime, needs human input to learn about how to tackle different types of attacks. As cybersecurity is always evolving, it takes the efforts of numerous research to prepare Watson to do his job effectively.

The bottom line is that AI and cloud services are very synergistic—AI are able to process large amounts of cloud data, and the cloud becomes more useful when AI can complete tasks by request. An intelligent services revolution is on the horizon, and more experiments in cloud-based AI can help get there.